


The Ballad of Jessica Callahan

by DemiGoddess



Category: Original Work, Vampire: The Masquerade
Genre: Abandonment, Anarchs, Body Horror, Cannibalism, Diablerie, Eyes, F/F, Hormones, Horror, Lasombra, Organs, Outlaws, Path of Enlightenment, Path of Metamorphosis, Path of Night, Soundtrack Included, Spouse Death, Trans, Transformation, Transgender, Transphobia, Tzimisce, Wild West, a hundred, a thousand, bank robbing, ten - Freeform, vampire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:15:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22459372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemiGoddess/pseuds/DemiGoddess
Summary: Jessica Callahan finds redemption after a life of bloodshed and robbery in the old west. Or that's what she thought, as she is embraced into Clan Tzimisce.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Original Human Character/Original Vampire Character, Original Trans Character/Original Cis Character
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> let me know if any of the links don't work

**1853**

[ Soundtrack: Raise Hell - Brandi Carlile ](https://open.spotify.com/track/4TWn4YeBaTqDURrYLd6k0a?si=EXRs8SoWRzinPuxd3_VJbw)

Jessica Callahan first killed a man at thirteen.

She had been running from the broken window she had just crashed through. She wasn’t a fast child, but she was small and clever. Her mark’s rifle shots went wide as she pivoted and scrambled behind a wagon. She could hear the apothecary’s ragged curses as she fumbled the six-shooter out of her waist-band. The heavy, metal weapon was too big for her hands and trembled in her nervous fingers. Still, she remained calm and quiet. The horrid old man would have to reload eventually, especially if he kept wasting shots on the side of the wagon, hooting and hollering the whole time.

The young thief carefully crept through the dirt, between the wagon wheels and did her best to hold her pistol steady. Sure enough, she could see the gray-haired man in the window cuss and scramble for bullets. With a squeeze of her finger, his balding head ruptured like an overripe melon.

Jessie hurried back to the gang waiting just over the next ridge. The adrenaline rush was exhilarating. Ma and the old priest had always told her that killing was the worst sin, but it sure didn’t feel like it. It felt great, in fact, to know that the bottles of poultices she had stolen would help her be who she really was. Hopefully, she’d be able to make enough money doing this to send back to Ma and Sis too. 

Bill, their leader, seemed pleased with the amount of cash she brought back, and plopped an oversized hat on her head in thanks. “Might make somethin’ of you yet, kid!” And with that they saddled up and rode into a new life.

**1858**

[ Soundtrack: Wendigo - Marah in the Mainsail ](https://open.spotify.com/track/6kKeie39ax2YhrfxjJSIv5?si=mmAKKuvWQfGnj1-ZZ-Q0xw)

It was so cold. It was achingly, bitingly, oppressively cold.

The robbery had gone south almost immediately. Bill’s gang had gotten greedy, and made another play without waiting for the heat to die down. It was unlike him to be so rash, but the promise of gold has a way of changing a person. Jessica and Bill were the only two remaining after the ambush. Those goddammed lawmen had ridden their asses all the way back to the Rockies, plucking their companions out of the saddle one by one. Winter was setting in, which would explain why the Sheriff had called off his pursuit. He figured the two outlaws would be gonners, alone in the snowy pass. Jessica was beginning to think he was right.

She looked at Bill from across their meagre campfire. “We stocked up so this wouldn’t fucking happen.” Her normally soft voice was even closer to a whisper.

“Casey had the extra rations, Jess, and you know damn well that we can’t go back to the canyon,” answered her bearded leader. “I ain’t seein’ the game there should be either. We just need to suck it the fuck up till we find the Apaches that were supposed ta be here.”

“There isn’t enough, Bill.” Jessica said flatly.

“No there ain’t, but if we focus and get smart we can--” his words of encouragement were cut short by the bullet passing through his brain. The crack of the gunshot sounded like thunder in the winter night. She knew she had held back a couple bullets for a reason.

Bill was her meal that night, as well as the rest of the week. Jessica felt a pang of sadness at betraying the man that had taken her in, but she needed to survive. Her mother and little sister were counting on her. Besides, his thigh hadn’t tasted half bad.

**1861**

[ Soundtrack: Gun In My Hand - Dorothy ](https://open.spotify.com/track/52gbcP8Uumg34r2hxv24n1?si=HZgy0Kg0RqSgJ1IVzhjZzg)

Jessica Callahan, leader of the Wechuge Gang, lounged in her hideout, chewing on the cooked arm of the local Sheriff. After that first meal, she had decided she liked to take trophies, at least if they were tasty. The rest of her crew was celebrating and drinking. Every single one of them was a lying, yellow-bellied varmint, but they had served her well in cracking open the First Bank of Sacramento, their biggest score to date. In another life, she would learn that the bank (and several others she had hit) was on the puppet strings of one Jose Amador. An amusing coincidence, but that is long from now.

After staying the winter with a Native tribe, she had made it back to her family’s homestead. They were gone. After so long without contact, they had assumed she was dead, and moved to the burgeoning city of San Francisco. They left a tombstone for her, beneath the oak tree out back. 

From then on, it was a reign of terror in the West. If they were going to abandon her, well, she’d just keep all the cash for herself.

**1862**

[ Soundtrack: Harmonica - Ennio Morricone ](https://open.spotify.com/track/6qJb4SCvEZZdAOTuy1UZ9O?si=jNGhrpOCTXaYFiREsL0N2w)

There they were again: The Black Rider. Jess thought that maybe she was going insane. She seemed to be the only one who could see the shadowy figure that would appear on the ridge at night. They had spoken to her once, when she was alone. They asked strange questions that she couldn’t hope to fully answer. Even that seemed like a dream.

**1863**

“Don’t tell us yer goin’ soft for a _woman!_ ” Shouted Jessica’s second-in-command. “If yer gonna pretend to be a wench at least suck a real man’s --” his body hit the floor before he could finish his ill-advised ultimatum. It was a slow death, blood oozing from the deep gash on his throat as he gurgled and writhed.

Jess licked his blood off her machete, and brandished a pistol at those who remained. “Anyone else?”

[Soundtrack: Heartbeat - Melissa Ferrick ](https://open.spotify.com/track/1PYI8g3PZCuZkkEnymukta?si=EVuwnydmQ32XtF5QKD9bpA)

She returned to Anna soaked in the blood of her former gang. Her _final_ gang. Her future wife was waiting at their woodland rendezvous, wagon packed and ready to go. The former-lawyer’s breath hitched when Jess emerged from the trees.

“I’m sorry,” said Jessica with quiet remorse. “I couldn’t get away clean.” 

Anna’s eyes softened, and she cleaned Jess’s face with her handkerchief. “It’s alright.” Her voice was gentle and reassuring, like talking to a beloved who is very sick. Perhaps that wasn’t far from the truth. “We can start over.”

They pulled together in a quiet embrace.

**1869**

[ Soundtrack: Caroline - Brandi Carlile ](https://open.spotify.com/track/4DVgaZDTvz72q3jAepAAbe?si=0CvoRKxIQ4i9ov1MKVfXeA)

It was honestly too good to be true. They were back at her family’s farm. Ma and sis were still long gone, but there was life in the old house again! It wasn’t perfect. Caring for cattle was hard, and the people of nearby Sonoma weren’t the most understanding of the relationship between Jess and Anna. Still, it was a quiet and happy life.

Jess looked out over the river to the trees beyond. The old oak was still there, the grave meant for her beneath it. It was fitting, she felt that she had basically died to be with the woman she loved. Her life of blood and mayhem from before seemed so distant now… and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Anna startled her out of the reverie by laying her head on Jessica’s shoulder. “Something interesting out there?” the brunette said with good humor.

Jessica laughed lightly. “Just a beautiful horizon.” She was looking directly into Anna’s eyes as she said it. “I never thought this old ranch would be something again, or that I could be a person again. Thank you so, so much my love.”

Anna blushed. “You’re so serious, Jess!” She responds, accompanied by a fit of giggles. “But I love you too. I just hope you’re not too busy staring into distant vistas to take care of the baby.”

“The what?” Jessica was floored. Her eyes widened in surprise. “I… I would love that, Anna, but you know with my medicine I can’t give you one, right?”

“We’ll adopt, you goof!” Anna gave Jess a playful slap to the shoulder. “I’m glad, too, that were able to build something after all. It was pretty rough and tumble there for awhile!” she continued with a laugh. “It would be a shame if we couldn’t pass it on though, right? If we have all this light in our lives… we should plant a seed, you know?”

Jessica smiled and nodded. “You’re absolutely right, Anna. Once spring comes around again, let’s have a baby!”

She almost fell over when Anna lept into her arms in joy.

**1870**

[ Soundtrack: Final Duel (Once Upon a Time in the West) - Ennio Morricone ](https://open.spotify.com/track/6o5iz5djaxD2K1UG3453w5?si=NWqL4sVFQoi94_XOAqrTjw)

Jessica stood on the porch in shock. The Black Rider had returned.

“You are lost.” They said. Their voices were myriad, like a crowd speaking in unison. “You’ve abandoned your truth. Why?”

Jess was still processing the arrival. The Black Rider hadn’t been seen in almost a decade, and suddenly it appeared at her front door the instant the sun set over the mountains?

“What the HELL are you talking about?” She screamed at them, memories of a life thought dead rushing through her mind. “I don’t know what you want, but you better get the fuck out of here if you don’t want a few dozen new holes in you!” She levelled her rifle.

“Jessica, who is that?” Anna was standing behind her, frightened.

“A dead man!” She fired shot after shot into the intruder, utterly shredding their black cloak. It wasn’t until she ran out of bullets that she realized that _it wasn’t dead yet._ Jess felt an ice cold fear grip her heart.

The thing reached out to her. It was impossible, it was twenty paces away! Yet, its many-jointed arms stretched and stretched. Its flesh felt cold and fluid as it pulled her away from Anna. Jess could hear her wife screaming for help, but she was powerless.

“You needn’t worry childe, I will fix you.” And with that whispered promise, the Tzimisce sunk its teeth into her neck.

The rest was a red blur. A haze of violence and screaming. When she awoke, she had eaten her sire in an unstoppable rage. Then her eyes cleared, and she wretched and cried.

Anna’s entrails were on her lips.


	2. Chapter 2

**1875**

[ Soundtrack: Big Black Horse and a Cherry Tree - Campbellsville Singers ](https://open.spotify.com/track/7vYlBa18jc4Y3KYK8kSpy1?si=tIujVBYWQT2s9NE8o-xh5Q)

_This is what you were always meant to be: an agent of God’s evil. Join me._

“Shut up!” Jess growled at the voice in her head. She knew what diablerie was now, and she has been experiencing the consequences ever since that fateful night. Fragments of her sire’s soul still tormented her.

The young vampire looked down at her most recent prey: a hapless land surveyor, too late getting back from his assignment in the Sonoma hills. She couldn’t just drink the blood of mortals, like in the old stories. No, her Beast demanded more than that. Like every meal since her embrace, she had devoured the man’s flesh and organs. What a terrible irony God had seen fit to visit upon her.

 _You do not have the luxury of playing at humanity, Jessica Callahan._ The voice in her head continued. _The Path of Night will welcome you, or you will fall to the Beast. Be grateful that I removed the distractions of mortality from you._

“I said shut up!” Jess repeated through crimson tears. Her flesh responded to her anger, and bone spikes grew out of her as though to emphasize her pain. She called upon the powers of her blood to shape her hand into a shovel-like appendage, all the better to dig a grave with. “Maybe I can’t be human, but I sure as hell ain’t gonna be whatever the fuck you want me to be either. You’re gonna show me your fucking library, and I’m going to find another way.”

**1905**

[ Soundtrack: Bottom of the River - Delta Rae ](https://open.spotify.com/track/2LzyUfJdRp3uqTrITBJXEY?si=TYsTPqYyTwagHjEqnq2Mcw)

After years of study, this was finally her moment.

The world had changed so rapidly, it was only fitting that Vista change along with it. The west she had been born into was no more. She had spent the past 30 years methodically stripping the trappings of Humanity from herself, and experimenting being all manner of creatures. The ranch was now her testing ground. With time, she would use it to overcome the final limitations between herself and transcendence.

The pain of losing Anna was still there. It would never be gone completely. That was the only human she cared about anymore, though. She would study humans, yes, but she saw them now for what they were: larva writhing in the dirt.

_You cannot do this, betrayer childe! Metamorphosis will destroy you just as surely as Humanity would._

“No. It will destroy _you!_ ” And with that she plunged herself into the lake.

Vista crashed back to the surface a week later. She opened her eyes… and then _kept opening more_.

Ten eyes. A hundred eyes. A thousand…!

And all of them were hers! The eyes of the forest; of beasts and humans alike. She was so wrong before: this was no testing ground, it was _her_. All of it. This place, drenched in the blood of centuries and the psychic imprints of every creature that came across it. Yes, the land was her body, and she would evolve it along with the rest of her.

**2003**

[ Soundtrack: This Too Shall Pass - Danny Schmidt ](https://open.spotify.com/track/3ZHdUTURQRucGdzVXeDpsU?si=yobtkF6aRTu0ktlFohdr5Q)

A century of evolution, of growing her flesh into the very soil, and now she was attempting to set someone else on the path towards Humanity?

Vista could feel her intestines in the earth churn beneath her as she sat across from the young Lasombra. Elliott Black, childe of Matilda the Ebon Wren. Quite the pedigree amongst the Sabbat.

Many things had changed over the years. Devourment was something she knew in excess. Now, her goal was to provide some amount of nurturement to the world. Not kindness, nor compassion, but growth. After all, how can one transcend without wielding both destruction and creation? That, she reminds herself, is the reason she took this wayward Cainite in. It has nothing to do with memories of Anna resurfacing, or of that seed they promised to sow. That was certainly not it.

Vista’s myriad eyes met Elliott’s two. She saw the fire within them, that burning need to be more than he was, but the Path of Caine was at its heart a regressive thing. Cainites sought the power of the First Murderer, but that required knowledge found only in the past. This, she could see, was at odds with the true shape of his soul. 

It is for this reason she would guide him back to Humanitas. Perhaps he would join her on Metamorphosis one night, or perhaps not. She could not be his only teacher, but she kept extensive notes on how to remove one’s moral compunctions. Maybe that would be enough information to reverse the process?

**2020**

[ Soundtrack: Chapel Shootout (A Few Dollars More) - Ennio Morricone ](https://open.spotify.com/track/4zWdtSMsQ3JrNMYONe3prn?si=UgytkCpoR6iFlACKV3_Sbw)

It was on the eve of her transformation that tensions finally boiled over.

“I won’t ask you to stop. I respect you too much for that.” Elliott Black, human again for years, had become someone that, in another life, she might call a friend. “But this is a huge Masquerade breach, Vista.”

“We can manage it. With time, the mutations will fade.” Her voice sounded too much like pleading for her liking. “This is what I am.”

The rest of the Anarchs descended upon her then. Vista knew they only saw her as a thing, a corruption that needed to be expunged. A thousand eyes open, and she could see the pain on Elliott’s face as he struck her.

“I really fucked up again, huh Anna?” she whispered. “Fine. I’ll back down.”


End file.
